The director of justice and peace for the Conference of Major Superiors of Men, McCarthy was among the more than 200 people arrested Oct. 8 outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington following an immigration rally on the National Mall.

Jesus was the "divine immigrant" who lived his life "traveling from place to place," Bishop David O'Connell of Trenton told the congregation at a midday "Justice for Immigrants" Mass Oct. 11 at St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral.

"Sacred Scripture tell us where he was from and what his ancestral lineage was," the bishop said in his homily. "But nowhere in the Bible do we find his permanent address, the location of his house, where he lived after beginning his public ministry.

"He lived and worked as an immigrant, an itinerant preacher, on many levels," the bishop added.

At least eight members of Congress were among 200 people arrested in an act of civil disobedience Tuesday at the conclusion of a rally and march in support of comprehensive immigration reform at the National Mall.

Among the arrested members of Congress, all Democrats, was John Lewis of Georgia, who has been willingly subjecting himself to arrest in pursuit of civil rights since the 1960s, when he was at the side of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Leaders of the nation’s Catholic universities have earned the praise of Nancy Pelosi, the Catholic who leads the Democratic minority in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Following a call last Thursday by more than a third of the heads of the nation's 244 Catholic colleges and universities for Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform, Pelosi said Monday that the academics have issued a “a plea for wisdom and moral courage.”